When he was just twenty-nine years old,
Mathieu Kassovitz took the international film world by storm with La haine
(Hate), a gritty, unsettling, and visually explosive look at the racial and
cultural volatility in modern-day France, specifically in the low-income
banlieue districts on Paris’s outskirts. Aimlessly whiling away their days
in the concrete environs of their dead-end suburbia, Vinz (Vincent Cassel),
Hubert (Hubert Koundé), and Saïd (Saïd Taghmaoui)—a Jew, an African, and an
Arab—give human faces to France’s immigrant populations, their bristling
resentment at their social marginalization slowly simmering until they reach
a climactic boiling point. A work of tough beauty, La haine is a landmark of
contemporary French cinema and a gripping reflection of its country’s
ongoing identity crisis.

***

With ”La Haine”, director Mathieu Kassovitz illustrates the
dichotomy, that exists between people from the projects outside of Paris and
those from the outside. By society and topography seen as losers, there is
little tolerance, acceptance nor understanding from either side, which leads
to instant aggression, to hate, hence the title.

According to Kassovitz, who is a well educated middleclass Parisian Jew, this
pattern of behavior can be found everywhere, in the US, the Germany, in the
UK, hence, what he attempts to describe is a universal situation of a society
on a self-destructive path. He illustrates this path of society by the story
of a man falling down from a tall building; As he passes each floor, he says,
“so far, so good”.

The approach Kassovitz takes is to illustrate the projects as a village,
isolated from “society”, with its own laws. The “isolation” is a reaction
against the attempt from the authorities to control the projects, so while it
may seems strange, that the people will burn down, for instance, a gym, it is
because it was financed by the authorities. The message is, we don’t need your
help or hands down.

The story takes place over a day, where each “chapter” is marked by an
intertitle clock. We follow the three friends, Vinz, Said and Hubert, their
bumming around and their trip to Paris. There is little plot, but more a
series of situation which illustrate the situation the film notes its motifs
upon.

In order to film in the projects, Kassovitz, the production team and the
actors, moved into the projects and lived there for three months prior to the
shooting and during the three months of actual shooting, in order for those
living there to get to know them. Many of the participants in the film are non
actors. This gives the film a documentary feel, which is stressed by its black
and white photography. Likewise, many of the situations in the film were
written out of real events. As such, “La Haine” is
fictionalized fact.

With the growing following of Le Pen in France, and the anti-Semitism and
anti-immigration that follows, “La Haine” is still actual, and as long as
society makes an active choice of making certain groups into outcasts,
supported by official politics, then the situation will only get worse. Few
films are as timeless and powerful as this.

Edition Details:
• New English-language audio commentary by Kassovitz • Video
introduction by Jodie Foster • Ten
Years of "La haine," a new documentary that brings together key cast and
crew a decade after the film’s landmark release • Video
featurette on the film’s banlieue setting, including interviews with
sociologists Sophie Body-Gendrot, Jeffrey Fagan, and William Kornblum
• Behind-the-scenes
footage shot during the film’s production • Deleted
and extended scenes, each featuring a new video afterword by Kassovitz
• Stills
gallery of behind-the-scenes photos • Theatrical
trailers • Liner
notes essay by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau and an appreciation by
acclaimed filmmaker Costa-Gavras

Edition Details:
• New English-language audio commentary by Kassovitz • Video
introduction by Jodie Foster • Ten
Years of "La haine," a new documentary that brings together key cast and
crew a decade after the film’s landmark release • Video
featurette on the film’s banlieue setting, including interviews with
sociologists Sophie Body-Gendrot, Jeffrey Fagan, and William Kornblum
• Behind-the-scenes
footage shot during the film’s production • Deleted
and extended scenes, each featuring a new video afterword by Kassovitz
• Stills
gallery of behind-the-scenes photos • Theatrical
trailers • Liner
notes essay by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau and an appreciation by
acclaimed filmmaker Costa-Gavras

ADDITION Criterion
Blu-ray - April 2012: Well, the
technicals support the Criterion with a higher file-size and bitrate.
But it tends to look a shade darker maybe even greenish. Looking very
closely the Criterion is smoother with the Optimum showing a few light
digital artifacts. Overall not a heck of a lot of difference for those
less-picky - very few would notice disparity in playback but Criterion's
dual-layering and more than 50% higher bitrate will get the, obvious,
nod.

The Criterion track is technically more robust
that a discerning ear would notice. It has a bit more crispness and
depth in the separations - but quite minor in the larger scheme. The
Criterion has optional English subtitles and their
Blu-ray
is region 'A'-locked.

Powerful film and Criterion appear to have produced the
definitive Home Theater release - an easy recommendation.

***

ADDITION Optimum
Blu-ray - August 2009: I don't know
what Optimum's motivation is here. Why are they releasing puny,
single-layered, bare-bones
Blu-rays? with none of the solid
extras of their own DVD edition... and they have region-locked it to 'B'
when there is a comparably serviceable region FREE
Blu-ray already available? They
certainly aren't maximizing the format capabilities with a 16 Gig
transfer. While the image and audio quality is superior than any of the
DVDs compared below - especially in the contrast department - I don't
know that it's enough to be bothered picking up - and most likely, if
individuals were inclined - they would have already bought the Region
FREE French edition
HERE that also has English, and other, subtitle options.

Personally, I'd probably still lean to the Criterion
with its bountiful supplements or, if you must own this in 1080P - the
French hi-def release.

Gary Tooze

***

ADDITION: Criterion - March 07': Short story on the image - the Criterion is
superior on every front. It is sharper, much better contrast and even
more information in the frame. The Optimum has a slim black border
circumventing the frame limiting the horizontal resolution but the
Criterion is tight to the frame edges. Criterion's subtitles are
removable (unlike the Optimum) and are far less intrusive. Both DVD
editions offer audio in both 2.0 and 5.1 flavors.

NOTE: There is a Finnish Two disc set
from Universal with subtitle options in Finnish, Swedish, Danish,
Norwegian, English, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech and Polish - audio
in French DTS, DD 5.1 DD 2.0 and a Spanish DD 2.0 DUB. One screen
capture is compared below. It looks a shade brighter than the Criterion
but may have some very minor edge enhancement -Thanks Per-Olaf! who says
- "The film is very grainy, and I think it's intended to achieve a
documentary style. It seems that both Optimum and Criterion have tried
to remove the grain from the image and both have ended up with a
soft(er) image. The Finnish Universal master-tape is from Studio-Canal,
and it seems to be a port from the French DVD (that doesn't have English
subs).".

I have not heard the Optimum
commentary (nor the French) but Criterion state that their commentary is
a new one - recorded specifically for them in 2006 in Paris. Director

Kassovitz pulls no punches and
speaks quite frankly about the politics of the project, production
details, people involved and the impetus for the film. He makes comments
about the current state of France - with regard to a potentially fascist
leaning government - speaking his displeasure as the voice of many
French citizens. His accent is not harsh and his English is fully
understandable. He remarks how he is a Criterion fan owning many of
their LaserDiscs from years gone by. He seems proud to have his film
produced onto DVD by them.

Jodie Foster gives an articulate, heartfelt 15 minute
introduction. She is wonderful to listen to - this is a highly
intelligent person detailing why she got involved in the distribution of
the film to the US. She gives a brief overview of the narrative from her
personal standpoint.

Disc 2
is stacked with supplements - most notably a 1 1/2 hour documentary
entitled Ten Years of "La haine". It pulls together some of the
backstory details of the project with some archive news footage and
vital comments. It is very well done and I really enjoyed watching it.
There is much more including 4 deleted scenes and 4 extended scenes, a
short featurette on the making of a scene and another on
preparation for shooting. The disc 2 digital supplements have
optional English subtitles.

Included also is a 24-page liner notes booklet with black and white
photos. It contains an essay by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau and a
2-page appreciation by acclaimed filmmaker Costa-Gavras.

Criterion have done it again with an entirely complete
package of an important film experience - both educating and
enlightening. It is a powerful and ultimately eviscerating cinematic
pleasure that Criterion have rendered expertly to digital. Strongly
recommended!

Gary Tooze

***

On the Optimum: The new digital remastering is
simply stunning. Complete flawless black and white, with deep blacks and
crisp details. It simply looks great. The DVD comes with the original
stereo / mono mix (Kassovitz recorded certain passages in mono to pinpoint
the situation on screen) and a newly mixed 5.1 DD track.

As additional material there first is an audio commentary by Kassovitz.
This is a newly recorded commentary in English and how much it resembles
the commentary on the French DVD I don’t know. Kassovitz goes into great
detail describing the background for the film, the situation in France,
the acting and production. He obviously has a lot to say, but at times he
does stray of on a tangent. Nevertheless, this is a very informative
commentary, which only adds to the already impressive film.

Following this, there are two short “behind the scenes” featurettes, where
we are taken behind the scenes, and excerpts in colour, so one can see how
the film was recorded. Finally we get the trailer.

The only negative comment for this DVD are the subtitles. They are fixed,
which while practical, still are intrusive, if one wishes to watch the film
without them.